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Tennis Star Coco Gauff Demands Change in Powerful Speech

"I'm not of age to vote, but it's in your hands to vote for my future, for my brother's future, and for your future," she said.

Robin Lundberg

Coco Gauff, the 16-year-old tennis star, gave an impassioned speech at a Black Lives Matter rally in her hometown of Delray Beach, Florida. Gauff said, "I'm not of age to vote, but it's in your hands to vote for my future, for my brother's future, and for your future."

Sports Illustrated's Robin Lundberg and senior writer Jon Wertheim discuss her powerful words.

Read the full video transcript below:

Robin Lundberg: We've seen young people help lead the movements across the country. That goes for sports as well, including tennis' Coco Gauff. For more, I'm joined by senior writer Jon Wertheim. Obviously Jon, Coco's words speak for themselves. But what did you make of what she had to say?

Jon Wertheim: I thought this was just extraordinary. I mean, tennis has a nice history, actually, of athlete activism. Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe. And here comes Coco Gauff who—and I feel like we're glossing over this, but let's just pause—she turned 16 years old in March. So, you know, she said at one point during the speech she gave that she was eight years old when Trayvon Martin happened. That was half of her lifetime ago. And you forget how young she is. And she gave this very eloquent speech in the city in which she resides, in Delray Beach, Florida. It's been viewed over a million times now.

Coco Gauff holding a racquet
Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Jon Wertheim: And I think we talk about Coco Gauff's potential as a tennis player, but in the last 60, 90 days, she has really shown that she takes her off-court duties very seriously as well. It's been very interesting for a lot of people to see which players, especially in a global sport, which athletes in tennis have weighed in and which haven't. Who has said what? But right now, Coco Gauff really turned a lot of heads, a lot of older players—Chris Evert, Billie Jean King—I mean, a lot of players in their 60s and 70s were marveling at this as well. So Coco Gauff really distinguished herself. Again—16 years old. And I would encourage everyone to listen to the entirety of this speech she gave in Delray last week.

Robin Lundberg: Yes, she obviously accomplished a lot on the court at a young age, but doing it outside of tennis as well. John, appreciate your time, as always. 

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